Halo2.Junk.ws Celebrates Second Birthday

Halo2.Junk.ws is celebrating its second birthday on December 4! We have over the last year expanded from 3,000 to 36,000 members and have now aggregated statistics for over 16,000,000 games.

Halo2.Junk.ws has grown at an extraordinary rate this past year, and
we've become larger than anyone ever expected. One year ago when we
announced our first birthday, we had just recorded our one millionth
game. We have since then recorded an additional 15 million games,
recording our 16 millionth overall game yesterday.
One year ago, our 3,000th member joined us. As of today we have over 36,000 members, nearly 8,000 of whom are regularly active. Some 1,500 of those 36,000 have been banned for having cheated on XBL. A year ago we had much-criticized limits placed on the number of new members we allowed; we are now capable of accepting as many users as wish to join.
One year ago we were just starting to record over 20,000 games in one
day. On weekends we now usually record over 60,000 games. On December 2, we recorded 70,000 games in a single day for the first time. We record approximately 5% of all games of Halo 2 played on XBL.

Sometimes a busy week for us equals a slow week for you guys. This is one of those weeks, but don't fret, there will be plenty of cool new stuff to sink your teeth into next time. A little news about Pimps, playlists and pwnage.

HaloEverywhere.com Launched!

PraetoriaGuard has released HaloEverywhere. The premise is simple: Insert Halo content into everything you see. It's a contest - you've got 60 days to come up with cool pics, and there are some nice prizes at the end - donated by Bungie, HBO and more!

Stop by and photoshop Halo into your life. You might walk away with some sweet gear!

Turrets - use them!

Over at halowiki.net we have this "Issue of the Week" thingy which tries to focus attention on different Halo 2 Multiplayer aspects. This week we're looking into Turrets.

You might have noticed that some people really can use those? How do you use them anyway? Check out if halowiki.net "knows" something you don't about it. Because if the wiki knows it chances are your opponents knows it.

Maybe you're one of those who really can use them Turrets? Itching to tell us others how they should be used? The Turret article is the place to spread this knowledge of yours. We're interested in all kinds turrets, be they Human or Covenant, Gauss or Plasma, vehicle mounted or stationary. And we're not only concerned with how to use them. How to counter them is equally interesting. And of course how to have as much fun as possible with them is interesting too. Know of some game types and/or map where they provide lots of fun? Share!

And make sure to visit the Main Page now and then, why not once a week, to find out what other issues we put focus on.

The image you'll find in here is taken from the CG in the brand new Halo 3 TV ad, airing on ESPN's Monday Night Football next week. Be sure to check it out and set up that Tivo. This is one you won't want to miss. Also, there is some football game playing that night. Apparently. Beta news too.

Games for Sick Kids Charity Drive

Clantacular.com is sponsoring a
charity drive for Child's Play Charity 2006. They are trying to raise
as many xbox games as possible over the next 16 days. New games will be
delivered to Childrens Hospitals all over the US while used games will
be converted into funds for buying a few shinny XBOX 360's for these
kids as well.

Many children will be spending their holidays and winter in hospitals,
many of them may never get out alive. The least we can do is share the
experience of gaming with these kids and get rid of those old board
games and UNO cards. YUCK!

Tied the Leader Launches Charity Foundation

The Tied the Leader community has launched a portion of its site, the Foundation, which is a charity that supports war veterans.

Tied the Leader, known for their "Good Game" mantra, has recently unveiled the newest addition to their community. As a strong Halo 2 clan which simulates the war environment every day, TTL has decided to give to those who experience the real thing so we don't have to. The TTL Foundation charity was created to support war veterans. In unison with the launch of the Foundation, a Store was created that would sell merchandize to raise money for the cause. Gamers can now show support for the Tied the Leader blog, clan, and community by buying shirts and other products, and at the same time give aid to a great cause.

Podtacular Intra-Community Season Tournaments.

If you’re looking for some fun and competitive tournaments, the Podtacular Season Tournaments are the place to go.We have been running these tournaments for about 2 seasons now and the turnaround has been great. Click on the link to check out the whole story and don't forget to check it out at www.podtacular.com .

Podtacular Intra-Community Season Tournaments.

If you’re looking for some fun and competitive tournaments, the Podtacular Season Tournaments are the place to go. I, Dialpex, have been running these tournaments for about 2 seasons now and the turnaround has been great. From the first season of 12 teams of 3 players we tripled our numbers on the second season and plan on keep growing in the future. This current season holds over 94 players from several different communities such as: The Cavegirls, The Winged Warriors, HaloWiki, SBG Omega and of course our folks from Podtacular.

These tournaments usually last from 7 to 10 weeks and all the information is updated and released on our site (www.podtacular.com) with pieces of information gathered from the bungie.net game Urls combined with additional information used on the tournament such as: points, kills, deaths, KpD ratio, games played, wins, losses, etc…You can find all of this in a great and easy to read format (http://podtacular.com/tournaments/fall2006).

So if you’re looking for some fun and competitive gaming within your reach in the halo community, be sure to visit us at www.podtacular.com and drop us a message inquiring about the next season tournament. Keep on Fraggin’ trucks!!!

We're taking a deeper look at the Halo 3 screenshots today. Consider it a behind the scenes look at them, with a commentary track from the director. Except I'm not the director, more like the key grip. Key grip though, that's gotta count for something.

1up Talks About Halo 3 Single Player

Luke Smith is talking about the Halo 3 campaign footage that he was privy to last month during his visit to Bungie Studios. He only saw "17.25 seconds" of footage, but he was paying enough attention to write down every little detail for you guys. Check it out!

As always check out the rest of the store at BungieStore.com. Get your Bungie fan all of the coolest Bungie swag now to avoid the holiday rush. By, "holiday rush" I mean, "I'm gonna buy everyone I know Halo swag for the holidays because I'm too busy/lazy to go out and get stuff." No joke.

Short and sour this week, with some interesting snippets, but mostly stuff that will make fans of certain matchmaking playlists really angry and abusive. So to them, we apologize in advance. Hurtin' bombs inside.

Frankie and Eric Nylund in OXM Podcast

Ryan McCaffrey stopped by our forums this morning to point out that Frankie and Eric Nylund are featured in the latest podcast from Official Xbox Magazine. They discuss all of this week's Halo news and then some, give it a listen.

We had another internal Humpday this week at Bungie Studios, again in Halo 3. So, as you might expect, you'll read a bunch of vague descriptions of rocks and weapons that may or may not sound familiar.

1up Continues Halo Coverage

Luke Smith is taking a brief look at the history of Halo today, posting a retrospective look at the most significant news broken and statements made by EGM. Check out his article and keep checking back at Halo3.1up.com for updates for the next week and a half.

It's hard to believe that it's been five whole years since Bungie unleashed Halo on the world! To celebrate this momentous occasion we've got a few small announcements that may be of interest to fans of the series as well as a little screenshot from a game we like to call Halo 3.

In this, the week celebrating the fifth anniversary of the release of Halo for Xbox, we asked a few of our media chums what they think about Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 – and what they’re most looking forward to in the next installment. Oh and tomorrow? Boxors will be Roxored.

Aleph One 0.17rc1 Release!

The new AlpheOne upgrade for Marathon comes with brand new adjustments to the multiplayer and fixes the bugs the players have been experiencing.

Features

Major changes since 0.17pre2 include players showing up in the Find Internet Games lobby while in-game, some commands for dealing with troublemakers in the FIG lobby, overhauls to fix bugs in physics and Lua handling, and other bug fixes. Please see the release notes for complete details: http://www.treellama.org/alephone/0.17rc1-release-notes.html

In Accordance with Halo 3's Darker Tone...

Over at Hot Topic they've got some new Halo 3 merchandise available. There's a Halo 3 t-shirt featuring one of the H3 backgrounds you're already familiar with as well as a Halo 3 hoodie featuring the Halo 3 logo. You can find them online or at their retail locations.

Unlike their model, you are allowed to smile or even be happy while wearing these items. Thanks to ViolentSinger for pointing these out over at HBO.

Video Games Live! Hits Europe and South America

If you haven't been anywhere near the past Video Games Live! concerts, as in continents away, but have been dying to go, then you'll be happy to know that VGL! is going to be performing in South America and Europe later this month. Check their site for the date, venue and all the other details.

They'll have shows in Rio de Janeiro on the 12th, Sau Paulo on the 19th and London the 25th.